Cabinets and Countertops - Part 2

Monday, September 3rd (Labor Day) - Today was a big day...  Countertops!  Father-in-law Kevin came over to help again.

We went with the Pragel stone effect black counters from IKEA.  They're beefy, a full 1.5" thick the entire depth.  Most laminate countertops are thick at the front, and then drop down to around 3/4" for the rest of the counter.  It also makes the 8' section weigh in at around 100lbs.

We had two 6' pieces, and two 8' pieces we needed to cut down to fit.  In hindsight, I wish we had gone with three 8' and 1 6' pieces...  The price difference between the 6' and 8' is only $10 ($59 for 6', $69 for 8'), and we would have had a large enough cutoff to put a matching countertop over the washer/dryer in the mud room.  Oh well.

First things first, we mounted the microwave.  Fairly simple process, take your time measuring and mounting the wall-mount plate, then it should tilt into place, and screw in to the bottom of the cabinet above it.  Make sure you cut your power cord and mounting holes in the cabinet first.  Before the microwave was mounted, we were concerned at how massively huge it looked.  Once it's mounted, you don't see much other than the door, so that was a relief.

After the microwave was installed, we brought the stove in from the garage, so we could confirm the mounting location of the final cabinet, a 3 drawer cabinet to the left of the stove, the only major design change from how the original 1960s kitchen was.

The weight and thickness of the countertops for some interesting cutting.  IKEAFans.com is a great resource for information on IKEA kitchens and other products.  I didn't have to post a single "How do I..." post, so many people have been there before with the same questions, all I had to do was read and find the answers!  Anyway, back to the cutting...  The suggestions from IKEAFans.com had me do the following:  Cut the countertops face down, with a 60 tooth Diablo ultra fine finish blade in my circular saw.  Use masking tape along the cut to eliminate (or at least minimize) any chipping of the laminate.  Go slow. I don't remember seeing this anywhere, but I would add in this:  Start your cut from the front of the countertop rather than the back.  Also, not sure if this is common sense or not, but the father-in-law suggested clamping a straight edge, in this case my drywall ruler, and using it as a guide for the circular saw.  It made for some nice, straight cuts.  Even with all of that preparation, we did still have some chipping.  Thankfully, because the countertops are so dark, a black Sharpie has done a nice job hiding some of the nicks!  I will probably look into some black silicone caulk and see if that helps cover it, as well as seal it.

Speaking of sealing, because the countertops are particleboard, you'll want to seal the edges, so water doesn't get in.  What I did was get a tube of clear silicone caulk, squeeze it on the cut side, and smear it in real good with your finger.  Dries fairly quickly, but stinks baaaad.

The toughest part of the entire day was cutting the hole for the sink.  I used a forstner drill bit at the four corners to get a place for my jigsaw in.  I then used a reverse blade, brand new, high quality Bosch.  The reverse blade cuts on the downstroke, minimizing laminate chipping.  Maybe I just didn't have the right blade, but cutting for the sink was a nightmare.  The blade end furthest from the saw kept bending and not cutting straight up and down.  The end result was an atrocious looking cut, that thankfully in no way took away from the structural integrity of the countertop.  Seal it with the silicone caulk like the other cuts.

I was pretty tired at that point, but as it seems with most nights, there's always little stuff that needs to be done.  Tonight was no exception, I cut holes in the back of the cabinets to access the under-cabinet lighting outlets.  Didn't feel like cleaning up for the picture, so you get a big-old-mess photo of the progress.

Tuesday, September 4th - Kevin came over to help once again.  We screwed down the countertops.  It was as easy as getting in the cabinets, carefully drilling pilot holes, and using the screws supplied with the cabinets to secure the countertops down.  We also mounted the faucet to the sink, and the sink to the countertop.  Faucet hoses too short, oops!

Speaking of faucet hoses...  I read many complaints on different internet sites about IKEA faucets, and how they're sized metric, and don't fit American plumbing systems correctly.  I had a moment of panic myself when the instructions said the US version comes with 9/16" hoses, and I knew that wasn't a normal size.  I looked at the PDF of the instructions on IKEA's site, and it said 1/2", so I think maybe it was a printing error?  Either way, once I found the right 3/8" to 1/2" hose extension at Menards (no easy feat), the faucet hooked right in, perfectly.

Running low on energy for big stuff, I finished the night by installing more cabinet doors, and mounting the first handles in the cabinet to the upper-left of the stove.

Wednesday, September 5th - Not much work done that night, as our Bible study is back to meeting after a summer break.  I did manage to install even more drawers and doors, so it visually looks like I did a lot more than I actually did.

That's it for Part 2.   Part 3 coming up shortly, with plumbing and dishwasher excitement!